Aminonitrobenzoic acid compounds are useful as building blocks in the manufacture of a variety of products including pharmaceuticals, agricultural chemicals, vitamins and dyes. The compound 2-amino-6-nitrobenzoic acid is a widely used type of aminonitrobenzene. Multiple methods for synthesizing this compound have been described in the literature. In one conventional approach, 2-amino-6-nitrobenzoic acid is prepared in a multi-step procedure starting from a 3-nitrophthalic anhydride precursor. (Journal of Organic Chemistry 63, 1998, 6797-6801). In another approach, 2-amino-6-nitrobenzoic acid is prepared from 2-chloro-6-nitrobenzoic acid by treatment with concentrated ammonia in a pressure vessel at elevated temperature in the presence of metallic copper as the catalyst (GB 286,694). The 2-chloro-6-nitrobenzoic acid used as the starting material can be prepared by a multi-step method from 2-chloro-6-nitrotoluene (U.S. Pat. No. 6,933,406).